The dangers of drowsy driving: Limit rules not always followed by truck, bus drivers

Share Update:

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

CHICAGO - On any given day the nation's roads are loaded with buses and semi-tractor trailers. The heavy vehicles have been linked to some of the deadliest accidents on the road. To keep roads safe, the federal government has put in place time limits on drivers. Critics argue that the federal rules are not always followed.

Randy Marcus, a former driver, says he was let go after he complained about working beyond the 10-hour limit. Marcus secretly recorded his manager telling him to continue driving. He says, "I told her in the conversation more than 5 times that my drive time was up. She said drive around one more time and then head back to Chicago."

Two other co-workers made similar complaints. The issue has reached the President. He wants fines and fees to go up. Employers could be hit with $11,000 fines or more. Regulation advocates also want better monitoring on those log books. Right now, unless drivers are pulled over or involved in an accident nobody is checking the log books.

Senator Dick Durbin is proposing that driver log books go from manual entries to electronic, meaning the drive time is electronically clocked.

Although there have been attempts to do this before Durbin says this time is different, "I think it will be but trucking companies are going to fight it all the way. They want to give trucking companies the latitude to drive an extra couple of hours."

WGN reached out to the bus company, Free Enterprise Systems, but have not heard back. The Indiana based company does have a satisfactory standing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Right now, no date has been set to take up the legislation on electronic monitoring in Congress.